In today’s Sun I have a column that discusses what Brett Favre – currently the toast of the New York – will face once the honeymoon ends.

Part of that column is reprised here because I realize that the audiences for the newspaper and the blog can be different, even though the column appears on the Sun Web site. And I was taken with how similarly Favre sees the situation

He’s a realist, I’ll give him that, and he was being soberingly frank when he said yesterday, “To a certain degree, I don't know what I'm getting into” and “I hope I can play at the level that I've always played at. There's no guarantees. There have never been any guarantees for me. It's football and anything can happen.”

So here it is, the circumstances that make New York a dramatically different challenge for Favre.

In Green Bay, Favre's on-field peccadillo of throwing the occasional ill-advised pass might have been overlooked somewhat by the media and certainly by the fans because of what he had done in salvaging a proud franchise that had fallen on hard times when he got there in the early 1990s. But in New York, Favre will have no such reservoir of goodwill from which to draw. Media scrutiny will be harsher because of expectations for immediate success despite the fact that the Jets were 4-12 last season.

In Green Bay, there was one team and one superstar, Favre. But New York has a fistful of pro sports teams populated by any number of stars. And the jaded sports public there is less inclined to hand out free passes for poor performances and more likely to say, “What have you done for me lately?”

In Green Bay, Favre could ask for some privacy and expect to get it. In New York, the tabloids stake out hotels and restaurants looking for a photo to plaster on Page 6.

In Green Bay, if Favre had somehow continued to play for the Packers but failed to get the team even as far as it went last season - the conference championship - he would still be revered. In New York, if he doesn't get the Jets to the playoffs, he'll be called washed up.

In Green Bay, he played in the NFC North, where he was the only quarterback of any demonstrated ability. With the Jets, he will play in the AFC East, with the ominous presence of the New England Patriots and Tom Brady looming.

 Obviously, the future Hall of Famer didn't have a whole lot of choice regarding a new team, so after a suitable amount of romancing by Jets officials, Favre decided to take a bite out of the Big Apple. It remains to be seen whether he has bitten off more than he can chew.

Clearly, he has his own misgivings. “I haven't played in New York. I'm a South Mississippi boy, but I know how tough the city can be and I know how great it can be,” he was quoted as saying. “It can be as good as you want to make it.”